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Iowa searching for help with millions of dead chickens

DES MOINES — With nearly a dozen more bird flu cases reported in Iowa last week, state and federal officials find themselves struggling with a nearly overwhelming task — disposing of mountains of dead chickens, turkeys and ducks — nearly 26 million in all — that are casualties of the deadly virus.

Iowa searching for help with millions of dead chickens

Dead chickens are hauled to be buried in a farm field near Rose Acre Farms, Tuesday, May 12, 2015. Rose Acre Farms is depopulating its Winterset egg-laying operation, shown here, just west of Winterset, after the avian influenza virus was discovered two weeks ago.(Photo: Rodney White, The Des Moines Register)

DES MOINES — With nearly a dozen more bird flu cases reported in Iowa last week, state and federal officials find themselves struggling with a nearly overwhelming task — disposing of mountains of dead chickens, turkeys and ducks — nearly 26 million in all — that are casualties of the deadly virus.

Landfills in South Dakota, Nebraska and northwest Iowa, where poultry producers have been the hardest hit, have turned away the dead birds, fearful of the risk of contamination.

The problem is so severe that on Friday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack stepped in to urge landfills to accept some of the millions of birds killed or destroyed by the H5N2 virus, saying delays could exacerbate odors and flies, problems neighbors have already complained about in some parts of the state.

Vilsack's message was echoed the week before by Bill Northey, Iowa secretary of Agriculture, and Chuck Gipp, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, who beseeched landfill operators around Iowa to accept some of the millions of carcasses.

They said the state could see "tens of millions" infected turkeys and chickens before the outbreak is brought under control.

An expensive operation

Vilsack told Radio Iowa on Friday that only one landfill has agreed to accept dead birds, but the company wanted "several times more" than normal landfill fees.

Robert Glebs, CEO of Iowa Waste Systems, near Malvern in southwest Iowa, said accepting the dead birds will require the private company to take extra steps that are expensive, including purchasing insurance to protect the private business from lawsuit.

State and federal officials have said the birds and associated waste could be transported without contaminating other poultry operations along the route. Other states, say officials, have successfully disposed of birds infected during earlier avian influenza outbreaks.

Protocols include using special Bio-Zip bags for each bird to contain and kill the virus, disinfecting trucks, special routes and landfilling practices that include segregation of the birds from other waste and immediately covering them once they're landfilled.

"It's not going to be cheap, but it's not going to be exorbitant," said Glebs, adding that the Mills County landfill, about 200 miles from the northwest Iowa H5N2 epicenter, is ready to begin accepting dead birds.

“We're hopeful that they will find options that are local and the material will not have to cross the state.”

Kathy Morris, executive director of Waste Commission of Scott County

A landfill in Scott County has been asked whether it could help. It would be up to 400 miles away from northwest Iowa, where most of the dead birds are.

But Scott County officials aren't thrilled about thousands upon thousands of dead chickens being trucked into their territory.

"We're hopeful that they will find options that are local and the material will not have to cross the state," said Kathy Morris, executive director of Waste Commission of Scott County.

Still, she said, "we understand that this is a state disaster. We would be prepared to help if needed."

In addition to landfilling, birds killed by avian influenza can be composted or buried on-site and incinerated.

States offer little help

But the sheer number of dead birds has prompted Iowa to call landfills hundreds of miles away or across their borders to help, with little or no luck.

Brian McManus, a spokesman for the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, said the state is not providing landfills guidance about accepting the waste. However, the state considers landfilling the last disposal option because of contamination concerns.

Nebraska just experienced its first case of avian influenza recently in Dixon County, a farm with 1.7 million chickens across the Missouri River from Sioux City.

Like Iowa, Minnesota has struggled with avian influenza, infecting nearly 5.8 million birds, mostly turkeys, at 88 farms in 21 counties. State leaders also are urging landfills to accept the infected birds.

A Minnesota official said no requests had been made to landfill Iowa birds, but the state probably wouldn't accept them if asked.

"Infected carcasses could not be moved without a permit, and the Minnesota Board of Animal Health would be unlikely to permit movement for such purposes," he said.

USDA under fire

Iowa's mounting frustration with the epidemic has brought the USDA's response under fire.

Last week, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst sent a letter to Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, expressing concern about whether the state had adequate resources to combat and contain the disease.

The USDA responded that it has deployed hundreds of additional staff in 20 states and invested tens of millions of dollars in payments to producers. More than 85 USDA officials alone are in Iowa, "and more are on the way," the agency said.

Dead chickens are buried in a farm field near Rose Acre Farms, Tuesday, May 12, 2015. Rose Acre Farms is depopulating its Winterset egg-laying operation, shown here, just west of Winterset, after the avian influenza virus was discovered two weeks ago.(Photo: Rodney White, The Des Moines Register)

Gretta Irwin, executive director of the Iowa Turkey Federation, said additional equipment needed to euthanize turkeys has been arriving in the state. Earlier last week, producers were waiting days for help, while the fast-moving virus spread.

With the added equipment and a slight pause in new cases, Irwin said she hoped all the infected operations would be fully depopulated this week.

More help may be on the way in several weeks, as an Ames, Iowa, company works with the USDA to test a new vaccine. The vaccine would be injected in eggs, young chickens or older birds to prevent them from getting the virus, which can kill birds within 48 hours.

Harrisvaccines officials said it would be most useful in large operations that already have been hit by the virus and are ready to begin raising birds again. But it could take several weeks or months before the vaccine gets to producers.

No human cases have been found, and health officials have said the strain poses a low risk to the public. They are optimistic that warmer temperatures will arrest the spread of the virus, which thrives under cool and dark conditions.

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